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Feeling The Hate In Jerusalem on the Eve of Obama’s Speech in Cairo

Max Blumenthal writes: On the eve of President Barack Obama’s address to the Muslim world from Cairo, Egypt, I stepped out onto the streets of Jerusalem with my friend Joseph Dana to interview young Israelis and American Jews about their reaction to the speech. We encountered rowdy groups of beer sodden twenty-somethings, many from the United States, and all eager to vent their visceral, even violent hatred of Barack Obama and his policies towards Israel. Usually I offer a brief commentary on my video reports, but this one requires no comment at all. Quite simply, it contains some of the most shocking footage I have ever filmed. Watch it and see if you agree. (This video was removed from the Huffington Post on the grounds that it had “no news value” and “did not move the conversation forward.”)

Update: Joseph Dana, one of the co-creators of the video above, has written the following to explain why he and Max Blumenthal made the video, and what he thinks it shows:

It’s about entitlement, stupid.

Max and I went on to the streets of Jerusalem at ten o’clock on a Wednesday to ascertain the feelings of the young population about Obama’s upcoming speech in Cairo. As is often the case, the streets of central Jerusalem were not filled with native Israelis but American Jews. Doubtlessly anyone who has visited Jerusalem has encountered the droves of American Jewish kids that are sent to Israel to study for a period of time from Teaneck or Westchester. We asked people a simple question, “What do you think of Obama and Israel?” Most of the people that we talked to were dual American Israeli citizens. The answers in this video reflect the education and worrisome perspectives that many American Jews harbor towards Israeli politics. The sense of entitlement that the American Jewish community has when it comes to Israeli policy is on full raw display in the words of these young adults.

Based on our interviews these people were from high socio economic backgrounds and had developed thoughts about current Israeli politics. The question is why more journalists are not covering this story. All you have to do is walk the streets of Jerusalem and you will find dozens of people that harbor the same beliefs. As a resident of Jerusalem, I can say that the people represented in this video are not members of a fringe group or simply drunk college kids. These people reflect the sentiments shared by many people in this country and this city. These people and their families are the core of the opposition to meaningful peace between Israel and her neighbors. This is what Obama is up against.

To: Anrewl – I don’t know how about you but I don’t champion racism when I am drunk. So the fact that they are drunk is no excuse.

And I agree that they don’t represent entire country or nation – no one is claiming that. If you want to get bigger picture look at the parties who were voted in recent elections – it were extremist right wing racist parties such as Likud of Benjamin Netanyahu or Yisrael Beiteinu of the fascist Avigdor Lieberman. And the outcome of an election surely characterizes fairly a nation or a country. (Also Kadima (which is seen as a center/mainstream party) commited some horrible crimes in Gaza and elsewhere when they were in power – So it seems that it doesn’t matter wheter in government of Israel is “so called” center parties or extreme right wing fringe. The policies towards Palestinians are always the same.

Of course there are great Jewish people in Israel – such as those folks from peace organizations like B’Tselem. But sadly these people are in minority.

Max, your registration system leaves a few somethings to be desired. What it ought to do is register me as a user and give me the opportunity to change my password to something more memorable. Instead, it logged me in as the owner, and opened to me the wonders of your Dashboard.

Thing is, most American jews are nothing like that, by far most American jews are liberal and leftist and big supporters of Obama. So, those kids are spouting lunatic fringe right wing rhetoric, huh? Not all American jews are leftist and liberal, there are a minority who are rabid right wing Republicans with similar views to Rush Limbaugh. The obnoxious kids seemed to be all in the same area from what it looked like in the video, so maybe they were all part of the same group, at least that is what it seemed like since they were all spouting the exact same type of ignorant rhetoric that you see on right wing forums and blogs. Maybe they were all part of a republican jewish group from America?

I cannot imagine why Obama would want Ahmadinejad to see Buchenwald. It is too late as everything there is symbols, symbols used by the US, the USSR, Israel, no longer the human testament to ho man is wold to man. Far more important is to show that we have yet to learn. The old lesson of History lingers: the weaker is massacred viciously; but the survivors, when they regroup and achieve power, will always do onto others as has been done onto themselves. Our species learned nothing, as Iran’s daily torture of Iranians shows. Ahmadinejad never denied the Holocaust, he only decried its sacrilegious abuse by the very Zionists who only exploited it back then rather than help their own survive. Today we see Diaspora Jews called on to break their joyous Diaspora assimilation to become agents of Israel before driven in fear an a giant aliyah to Israel by 2020. The lebensraum thesis of today’s Zionists is much like that of the Germans. Man as wolf to man never changes, we never learn. Instead we use history as a jumbled myth of exclusiveness. Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9ncJiPnlt8&NR=1

Max, you have made a critical error in your purpose for promoting this video. To the masses, it simply reenforces their views against Jews. I find it hard to believe that you could not find a single Jew in Jerusalem who supports Obama, or who could talk about this issue with less vitriol. But what you have done is create an image of Jews — a negative image of Jews — by your choices as a reporter. This is no different than what Fox News does on a daily basis. I understand that this is not your intent, but it is your EFFECT. Does this sink in for you? Maybe just a little bit? Violence against Jews is a real problem across the US and Europe. Most people will view this video and simply view it as a representation of Jews, WHICH IT IS NOT. I am extremely disappointed in you, Max, and your attempt to rationalize your actions.

Max–
I’m the furthest thing from disappointed in you. This is excellent work. As for the commenter writing above, could this video promote anti-Semitism? Maybe, who knows, I doubt it, since, well, it’s a guy named MAX BLUMENTHAL who made the video, thereby suggesting to all but the blind that Jews aren’t a monolith.
I cross-posted on my blog:http://www.maxajl.com/?p=1309

I’ll also add that I thought your video from the Gaza hate-rally (or was that a pro-Israel rally? so hard to distinguish between such things these days) was fantastic work.
have you considered going to a Fuel for Truth event to do something similar?

Max–
Feel free to provide some evidence as to why your video represents the “typical” American Jewish attitude when Jews voted for Obama 77% to 22% in the last election according to a scientific gallup poll.

As an American Jew (at least by birth, if not by self identification or belief) I find this video disturbing but not entirely surprising. You could go to any college campus in America and get similar uneducated, and outrageous reactions from drunk kids on just about any political or religious subject.

But more to the point – I’m an atheist. I don’t believe in the doctrine of Judaism, even less so do I believe in the doctrine of Jewish nationalism – which increasingly is taking on the disturbing violent, apocalyptic overtones of extreme Christianity. While this video certainly does nothing to sooth antisemitism, I can’t fault Max for simply observing and depicting something that is true – even if it is only one slice of the truth. I’m quite certain you could find even more extreme examples of bigotry and entitlement in Israel without much trouble – even from more mature and sober individuals.

If anything, I just hope some Jewish Americans who see this will feel compelled to start reexamining their relationship with the whole concept of Jewish nationalism: whether or not it is really in their self interest, or in the interest of any Jews for that matter. This is a question that should be allowed to stand – allowed to be asked without accusations of antisemitism or “self hatred”.

To the folks on here claiming that this video could cause more irrational hatred of Jews, in my opinion, you’re right. These things suck no matter how you look at it. I’m Chicano and I’m well aware that there is a fine line between trying to, rightly, discuss or call out unethical behavior of your people and giving ammunition to hate-mongers.

I think a journalist that cares about integrity is in a worse bind due to the professional responsibilties the profession entails. It’s a thankless spot to be in.

There is, however, one quote I’d like to comment on specifically. javjay72 commented that, “I find it hard to believe that you could not find a single Jew in Jerusalem who supports Obama…This is no different than what Fox News does on a daily basis.”

I believe that javjay72 has things completely backwards. If Max went out specifically to find people who holds the views he wants to hear, THAT would make it like Fox News.

@jayjay72 ok as you might have guessed it im a jew.and I think you might know where i stand that being said I’m no stranger to these entitled frat boy jews! I have been wasted out of my mind,and said things i regret,but they were always true thats the price you pay for drinking! Im sure their parents will stand by their kids,and make excuse after excuse that my child is not a racist,but he is,and im sure their parents are no better.im sure they will bring up the old we jews marched in the civil rights with the blacks! blah, blah, blah, Are these kids the majority yes they are if they where not then bi bi,and Leiberman would not be in power! let us not forget that 90% of israeli supported the slaughter in gaza this aint my tribe,and i sure the hell not going to stand by these jews because im a jew. im going to do everything in my power to expose them,and my family has been the hardest.Thanks to max’s video they are finally seeing the light We need to clean house before its to late. We are living in our own weimar republic,and we all know what happen after that….. Max is trying to save us Jews not harm them Max you are on the right side of history Zionism as we know it is finished and thank god for that

i think that this video could have been done better. journalists make editorial choices about which opinions to place in their articles or pieces every day. what is the value of including comments like “i want pussy”? it does seem to discredit your piece by featuring these drunken moments.

and you’re right, racism doesn’t appear out of nowhere when people are drunk, but i would hardly call interviewing people about political issues when they are intoxicated a normal or well-respected journalistic practice. and i think you know that too. i hope you’re not suggesting it should be.

IN AN HOUR OF INTERVIEWS, YOU ONLY FOUND 1 PERSON WHO SAID ANYTHING THAT COULD BE DEEMED RACIST
Yet somehow you turned that guy into the Jewish American representative in a crowded street of drunkards. That’s the best you could do?
I’m curious to see your interview at a bar full of Arabs in Deerfield, Michigan. Ask them what they think about Jews, unless they’re excused from being racist because they may grow up to toil in the custodial arts.

Forget alcohol for a second.
To who are not familiar with the school, they might have missed a key part to this video. In the pub, the boys start chanting “Ner Jake, Ner Jake” Ner jake is a school in Jerusalem for a lack of better terms, out of control American teens.

Max B knew very well what he was doing when he entered a bar of kids who attend this school. He knew what kind of juicy material he was going to get. If anyone thinks KIDS from an American school for troubled adolescents are spokespeople for Jews, they are the ones who are truly foolish.

Ultimately, as it has been said, Max’s goal might not have been to promote antisemitism, but it will surely go in that direction. And to think it wouldn’t b/c he has a Jewish name? Someone who decides to hate b/c of this video will somehow find a way to ignore the names of the people behind the footage. That is how it has worked, and will continue to do so.

On another note, I attended “Ner Jake” There are multiple rabbis there who see no problem in saying “nigger” and openly being racist. It’s no surprise then to see students speaking that way when there hatred is reinforced by their teachers.

Drunk, sober, doesn’t matter. People will always experience anger and frustration when they try to justify the impossible: that an ethnically or religiously defined state can also be a real democracy.

In his Cairo speech, notice that Obama never said “Jewish state”, only “aspiration to a Jewish homeland”. Israel is not “a” or “the” Jewish state in the sense that it does not belong to Jews or Judaism. Israel belongs to its citizens(20% of whom are non-Jewish Arabs)! Now, Israel can define itself any way it wants, but Israel can’t expect the world to view Israel as anything but a state belonging to its citizens, the same way any other state is viewed, especially supposed democracies. Therefore the demand by Netanyahu that Hamas recognize Israel as a Jewish state is absurd on its face. 20% of Israelis are Arabs, and such a definition would disenfranchise them. It would be like saying the US is a a Christian state.

Human rights and self determination are individual rights(notice that people vote individually and they own property individually or at most as couples, not as part of their religion or race, and default private property inheritance is by blood ties, not by religion). Iran does not belong to Persians, Italy does not belong to Etruscans or Catholics or Italian-language-speakers, the US does not belong to Christians, etc, etc. While Italy belongs to “Italians”, that simply means it belongs to all its citizens. Saying Israel belongs to Jews is different from saying Israel belongs to Israeli citizens, as it disenfranchises Israel’s non-Jewish citizens.

Self determination only makes sense when defined by geographic contiguity. Self determination by religion, race, ethnicity, or favorite hobbies for that matter, would lead to the fractal-ization and bantustan-ization of the map of the world. Borders would constantly have to be redefined as people changed religions or intermarried across ethnicities and races. The Kurds for example don’t have a right to state. But the Kurds in Turkey have the right to Turkish citizenship and the Kurds In Iraq to Iraqi citizenship and those in Iran to Iranian citizenship. People have the right to stay in their homes, cities, towns and villages and be full citizens in whatever state claims their town or village as part of it. These human rights supersede any nationalistic aspirations groups may have.

If Israel wants to keep the West Bank, it has to extend citizenship to all West Bank residents. Israel cannot keep the West Bank in an eternal state of occupation or bantustan-ization. It’s already been 40 years. Conquered land comes with the people on it. It’s a package deal: can’t keep one without the other. And keeping land requires extending citizenship to the residents of that land. Israel has to annex the West Bank whole it or get out, and certainly it’s wrong and illegal for Israel to have built and continue to build more settlements in a place where it has not extended citizenship to all residents already there at the time Israel gained possession(1967). The West Bank map now looks qualitatively just like apartheid South Africa: it looks like “Swiss cheese”(George W. Bush’s words by the way: “the Palestinian state is one of contiguous territory. In other words, as I said earlier in my administration, I said, Swiss cheese isn’t going to work when it comes to the outline of a state”. ) The effect, if not the intent, of settlement construction in the West Bank, is apartheid.

TO all the Jews that had something bad to say about Obama.. FUCK ALL OF YALL!!! Learn your history you bunch of dumb asses yall are not even the “REAL” Jews. Real Hewbrews are black & second half of youth out there are stuck on U.S. trends & customs so get off our dick!!!! Yall talk alot of racism but if there was some real black people there like me (somebody that will knock you the FUCK OUT) you would be quiet & keep your comments to yourself. Next time your boring ass country needs help don’t call us!! AGAIN TO ALL WHO HAD SOMETHING BAD TO SAY ABOUT OBAMA..FUCK YOU & YOUR WACK ASS COUNTRY!!

@Libraking: i hope you realise that hate and racism is and always will be a dead end, regardless where it is coming from or at whom it is directed.

@Chicagoray: this video is not meant to be anti-obama. i am not max blumenthal, obviously, but i can assure you this video is not meant as a hateful and racist anti-obama message. it rather exposes views of hate and racism some people seem to have.

unfortunately, hate and racism can be found everywhere. all around the world. this needs to change if we all want to have a better future. otherwise we will only destroy ourselves. people need to think about why they feel, do, say hateful and racist things.

Wow that video was unbelieveable. Those individuals who commented in that video are extremely ignorant. Why didn’t Max interview other young jews in other settings ? this seemed to be in the same area in the same type of atmosphere. Why not go to libraries,schools, other places where young jews congregate? At least like that, you could get some jews that perhaps still opposed Obama, but could articulate themselves better and have actually been doing some research on the topic. As opposed to hearing stuff here and there and forming a premature view on the issue.

And you should’ve asked them if they heard the ENTIRE speech!!! Honestly I think if thats their opinion then they should voice that same opinion here in the U.S. Right in NYC, times square for example! Let’s see how opinionated they are then.

nothing like racy comments to smoke the closeted racists out of their holes.
@obamalover: “I’m curious to see your interview at a bar full of Arabs in Deerfield, Michigan. Ask them what they think about Jews, unless they’re excused from being racist because they may grow up to toil in the custodial arts.”

That’s an articulate, convincing, eloquent statement. A bar full of Arabs in Deerfield probably wouldn’t be so racist for the simple reason that oppressed people empathize with their oppressors; they don’t feel the need to dehumanize them. Dehumanization is what oppressors do, because when you have your boot on someone’s neck, you have to convince yourself that they’re subhuman.

@Libraking–
likewise a beautiful, eloquent statement. you plainly have a real gift for using English language. “The Blacks are the real Hebrews,” “you’ll get smacked if you say that about Obama,” yea, good thinking, use violence to win arguments about who is right or wrong.
[Even as Obama bombs the shit out of the Af-Pak border.]
uch.http://www.maxajl.com

The question in the video is not what Jews think of Arabs or vice versa, but what they think of Obama. And as Obama has said numerous times, he is a Christian. So thats neither here or there.Obama is trying make things fair and even for BOTH sides. For those with Bias views, think objectively, not subjectively.

I believe strongly and also im neither arab, black or jew. So i have no bias in being an Obama supporter. Obama has barely been in office for 6 months and some people are expecting him to resolve issues already. C’mon he has procedures he was to go thru to get things approved/implemented.Im sure if it was up to him alot of things would be done already, but he has to make moves according to law.

This is remarkable footage – and very informative for those of us who live in the United States and are active in efforts for peace and justice in Israel/Palestine. Unfortunately, many of the commentators above appear not to have read Joseph Dana’s explanation of the meaning and significance of this film; Dana’s explanation appears just below the YouTube screen and just before the “Related Post” and “Comments Received” sections.

In his explanation of “Feeling the Hate in Jerusalem”, Joseph Dana says, in part: “Most of the people that we talked to were dual American Israeli citizens. The answers in this video reflect the education and worrisome perspectives that many American Jews harbor towards Israeli politics. The sense of entitlement that the American Jewish community has when it comes to Israeli policy is on full raw display in the words of these young adults….These people and their families are the core of the opposition to meaningful peace between Israel and her neighbors. This is what Obama is up against.”

Most of us in the Israel/Palestine peace and justice movement in the United States (and around the world, for that matter) believe strongly that the U.S. Jewish community “holds the key” to peace and justice in Israel/Palestine. We believe that until U.S. Jewish attitudes evolve into a more realistic and compassionate understanding of the demographic, economic, social and political facts and forces extant in Israel/Palestine, nothing positive can take place in the region.

This is because the role of the United States is central to any resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the attitudes of American Jews are core determinants of U.S. policy vis-à-vis Israel/Palestine. In under 4 minutes, this microcosm of U.S. Jewish society deftly shows its viewers that the “peace process” will continue to be difficult because of the sense of entitlement, aka Jewish exceptionalism, on the part of all too many American Jews.

For myself an Italian citizen from Sicily, I could not comprehend how my country could once hold racist laws harming jews. I can comprehend the fears and frustrations of the first Israeli generation, however these children come into their world free from fear and full of hope. I can feel compassion for them, they have been forced to feel fear, hate, violence for people who were not the murders of their grandparents. They cannot connect fully with children of others in their own current world without feeling guilt for “forgetting”, they are called “self hating” if they seek to create common ground, if they seek to create a compassionate country. I find these children were failed by their families and communities. I feel they need compassionate confrontation, they need to get free from the horrific history of others and connect with children from each corner of our world.